Investigación de mercado

To further explore the challenges facing the head teachers of special schools with a particular reference to problems confronting the teachers, three open- ended questions reflecting specific issues relating to the retention and attrition of special education teachers were posed to the teacher respondents.

The first statement requested teachers to describe school factors that encouraged them to continue to stay or teach in the special schools while the second statement requested the teachers to describe school factors that dissatisfied them in the special needs schools. The last statement requested the special education teachers to suggest strategies to improve job satisfaction of special needs education teachers in Ghana.

Table 4.19 showed responses of teachers on the factors that satisfied them most as well as the frequencies and percentages of the responses given by the teachers. In all, 189 responses were summarized as shown:

Table 4.19: Reasons for teacher intention to remain in special schools Teachers of the Deaf Teachers of the Blind Teachers of the Intellectually Challenged Teacher Retention Factors (TRF)

Freq % Freq. % Freq %

Accommodation 7 8.5 2 6.7 2 2.6 Good Interpersonal Relationship 24 29.3 - - 23 29.9 Head teachers/management support 8 9.8 - - 8 10.4 Adequate Infrastructure 6 7.3 7 23.3 5 6.5

Love and Desire 33 40.2 16 53.3 17 22.1

Communication Ability 4 4.9 - - - -

Location of School - - 5 16.7 1 1.3

Conducive School Environment

- - - - 14 18.1

Adequate Teaching & Learning material

- - - - 3 3.9

Flexible Duty Schedule - - - - 4 5.2

Total 82 100 30 100 77 100

The results in Table 4.19 indicate that provision of accommodation, adequate infrastructure as well as love and desire of teaching children with special needs are the major reasons that all the three categories of special education teachers acknowledged as the most satisfying reasons for remaining in the special schools. Table 4.19 showed that the teachers of the Deaf had positive views for love and desire of teaching learners’ with special needs (N=33, 40.2%). Similar views were also expressed by teachers of the Blind for love and desire of teaching (16, 53.3%) whilst teachers of children with Intellectual Challenges also showed a strong positive view for good interpersonal

relationships as the most satisfying factor that encouraged them to remain in the special schools (N=23, 29.9%). Written comments by the teachers also indicates that teachers of the Deaf focused on good interpersonal relationships among their colleagues or between the teachers and their head teachers as the most satisfying factor (N=24, 29.3%) whilst teacher of the Blind identified adequate infrastructure facilities in their schools as the most compelling reason why they wished to remain teaching in the special school (N=7, 23.3%). The teachers’ of the Children with Intellectual challenges also mentioned love and the desire of teaching children with intellectual disabilities as the second most important factor keeping them in the school (N=17, 22.1%).

The analysis of the data indicates that only a smaller number of teachers of the deaf stated that their ability to communicate with hearing impaired children in sign language encouraged them to remain teaching in the Deaf school (N=4, 4.9%) and also only few of the teachers of the blind also mentioned provision of accommodation in the school as the least most satisfying factor (N=2, 6.7%). The minority of the teachers who taught in the schools for the Intellectually Challenged also identified the location of the school as the least satisfying factor of motivation when all the factors were ranked (N=1,1.3%). In addition, specific factors such as condusive school environment, adequate teaching-learning materials and flexible teaching schedules were noted by teachers of the children with intellectual disabilities as critical concerns regarding their job satisfaction and retention in the field of special education. It must however be noted that these factors (conducive school environment, adequate teaching-learning materials and flexible teaching schedules) were not

mentioned by any of the teachers teaching in both schools for the Deaf and Blind. A few teachers of the Blind also identified the location of the school as an encouraging factor (N=5, 16.7%).

It was also interesting to note that those who taught the blind students did not say much about provision of accommodation in the school. Moreover, none of the teachers teaching in the school for the Blind mentioned good interpersonal relationships and head teachers management support as a factor keeping them in the school. The analysed data revealed that in most cases, special education teachers were being influenced by different factors that made them to continue to remain in their respective schools.

The second open-ended question on the teacher’s questionnaire elicited information from the teacher respondents on the factors that dissatisfied them most in the special needs schools. Table 4.20 illustrates the factors that the teachers mentioned as the most dissatisfying together with the frequencies of their responses. As many as 226 issues were identified by the respondents and these were categorised into 13 factors as shown:

Table 4.20: Problems that Influence Teachers to Quit Special schools Teachers of the Deaf Teachers of the Blind Teachers of the Intellectually challenged Teacher Attrition Factors Freq. % Freq. % Freq. % Inadequate salary and allowances 28 23.9 8 25.8 16 20.4 Inadequate accommodation for

staff

13 11.1 2 6.5 7 9.0

Inadequate teaching & learning materials

12 10.3 2 6.5 14 17.9

Lack of support and poor leadership style

26 22.2 6 19.3 17 21.8

Poor interpersonal relationship 3 2.6 - - - -

Lack of recognition 7 6.0 - - - -

Inadequate facilities 9 7.7 - - - -

Nature of work 11 9.4 2 6.5 6 7.7

Communication problems 3 2.6 - - 7 9.0

Poor educational outcome of students

5 4.3 4 12.8 2 2.6

Poor head teacher-teacher relationship

- - 7 22.6 6 7.7

Inadequate accommodation for students

- - - - 1 1.3

Lack of government commitment - - - - 2 2.6

Total 117 100 31 100 78 100

From Table 4.20, it can be observed that inadequate salaries and allowances, inadequate accommodation for staff, poor teaching and learning materials and lack of support and poor leadership styles were mentioned by all the three categories of special education teachers as the major attrition factors that could influence their intention to quit from teaching in the special school. The rest were the nature of work and poor educational outcomes of students. Analysed data in Table 4.20 showed that, of the total 226 responses, teachers of the Deaf mentioned 117 problems whilst teachers of children with intellectual

disabilities listed 78 issues as factors that were likely to push them out of special schools. The rest of 31 problems were commented by teachers of the Blind.

Further analysis revealed that of the total of 117 comments from the teachers of Deaf, 28 (23.9%) were related to teachers’ salaries and allowances, 26(22.2%) were associated with lack of support and poor leadership provided by head teachers, 13(11.1%) focused on inadequate accommodation for staff, 12(10.3%) were related to inadequate teaching-learning materials, 11(9.4%) mentioned the nature of their job, 9(7.7%) talked about inadequate school facilities while 7(6.0%) reported on lack of recognition as the most important causes of dissatisfaction. A few (N= 5, 4.3%) of the teacher’s comments were related to poor educational outcome of students and 3(2.6%) commented on poor interpersonal relationship and communication problems as the factors that was influencing their intentions to quit from teaching in special school. It is worth noting that none of the teachers teaching in the schools for the Deaf mentioned poor teacher-teacher relationships, inadequate accommodation for students and lack of government commitments as negative factors that were likely to keep teachers away from the schools.

Similarly, analysed data from Table 4.20 also indicated that out of a total of 31 comments reported by the teachers of the Blind, 8(25.8%) were issues about their salaries and allowances, 7(22.6%) %) were related to poor head teacher-teacher relationships, 6(19.3%) focused on lack of support and poor leadership. About 4(12.8%) of the teachers’ comments reflected that they

were dissatisfied with poor educational outcome of students whilst 2(6.5%) commented on inadequate accommodation for staff and inadequate teaching- learning materials as some of the most important factors that dissatisfied them and made them think of leaving the special education profession entirely. It is interesting to note that the voices of teachers of the Blind were silent when it came to problems such as interpersonal relationships, lack of recognition, inadequate school facilities and lack of government commitments towards special needs education.

With regards to problems reported by teachers who taught children with intellectual disabilities, Table 4.20 again reveals that out of a total of 78 comments indicated, 17(21.8%) were related to lack of support and poor leadership, 16(20.4%) focused on poor salaries and allowances, 14(17.9%) were associated with inadequate teaching-learning materials and 7(9.0%) had to do with inadequate accommodation for students and communication problems materials as some of the most important factors that affected the teachers job satisfaction and retention. Only few smaller responses focused on; nature of work (N=6, 7.7%); poor educational outcome and lack of government commitment to special education (N= 2, 2.6%), and inadequate accommodation for staff (N=1, 1.3%).

From the comments reported by the teachers in Table 4.19, the findings revealed that the love and desire of teaching disabled children, good interpersonal relation among teachers and adequate infrastructure were major determinants of teacher’s job satisfaction and retention. The intrinsic motivation of helping learners with disabilities emerged strongly as a major factor in the special schools that encouraged the teachers to continue to teach in the special schools in Ghana. This view was also expressed strongly by the majority of the head teachers.

This finding was supported by Otube (2004) who investigated job motivation of teachers educating learners with special needs in four provinces in Kenya and revealed that humanitarian reasons was identified by the teachers as a major factor contributing to their continued effort and motivation to work with students with disabilities. The finding of the present study was also supported by Locklear (2010) who established that teachers in Georgia had chosen to remain in the field of education in order to make a difference in the life of children. This result of the present study was further supported by a study conducted Abraham et.al (2012) who examined teacher’s job satisfaction for secondary school effectiveness and found that inadequate classroom and school facilities produced negative teacher job satisfaction.

Furthermore, the result of the present study as reflected in Table 4.20 also revealed that poor salaries and allowances, lack of support and poor leadership styles of head teachers, inadequate accommodation for staff, poor head teacher-teacher relationships and inadequate teaching-learning materials were

some of the significant factors which were negatively influencing special education teachers’ job satisfaction and intention to quit. According to the findings of the study, out of 117 comments from the teachers of Deaf, 28 were related to teachers’ poor salaries and allowances, 26 were associated with lack of support and poor leadership provided by head teachers, 13 focused on inadequate accommodation for staff, 12 were related to inadequate teaching-learning materials, 11 mentioned the nature of their job, 9 talked about inadequate school facilities while 7 reported on lack of recognition as the most important causes of dissatisfaction. Similarly, that out of a total of 31 comments reported by the teachers of the Blind, 8 of them were related to their poor salaries and allowances, 7 were associated with poor head teacher- teacher relationships, 6 focused on lack of support and poor leadership.

In the similar capacity, teachers who taught children with intellectual disabilities also identified lack of support and poor leadership, poor salaries and allowances, inadequate teaching-learning materials and inadequate accommodation for students as some of the most important factors that affects the teachers’ job satisfaction and retention. The finding of this study was consistent with Chireshe and Shumba (2011) findings that, low morale, poor delivery and brain drain exhibited by Zimbabwean teachers was due to challenges such as poor salaries, poor working conditions, poor accommodation, lack of respect and teachers not being trained to cater for special needs children. The finding of the present study was also supported by Appiah-Agyekum et.al (2013) who concluded that low pay and declining respect for the profession were some of the key issues influencing job

satisfaction and retention of public Senior High School teachers in the Asuogyaman District of Ghana.

The finding was however inconsistent to the findings made by Walker (2010) who investigated factors influencing the retention of teachers of emotionally disturbed children in South Western Virginia and found that administrative support, compensation, and staff development were the three most significant factors that influenced certified special educators’ decisions to stay or leave their assigned positions. This is also true in Plash (2005) study on retention issues of Alabama special education teachers. The study investigated issues that impacted attrition, migration and retention of special needs education teachers in Alabama. The results indicated that the major reasons for either relocation or attrition were job conditions, occupational stress, and demands of IDEA compliance, and increased caseload, class size, relocation of spouse's job and threat of litigation.

The findings of this study have led the researcher to conclude that the factors that dissatisfy teachers differ across space and people. The researcher is of the view that the inconsistence findings may be due to differences in the methods and samples used as well as changes in the environments in which the studies were carried out.

CHAPTER FIVE

SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

5.1 Introduction

This Chapter presents the study findings on the dynamics of job satisfaction and retention of special needs education teachers in Southern Ghana. It covers the summary of the key findings and conclusions drawn from the study. It also includes recommendations as well as suggestions for further areas of research.